Witchcraft prosecutions were legal proceedings with surviving evidence: depositions, confessions obtained under pressure, and sentences carried out. The folklore came later, and these pages try to keep the two apart.
Every story in Witchcraft & the occult
- Place de Grève, Paris · 1680The Poisoner Of The Sun King's CourtBehind Versailles' glittering court, a fortune-teller ran a thriving trade selling poison to desperate noblewomen.
St Louis · 1949The Real Boy Behind The ExorcistThe film is often called the most terrifying ever made — and behind it sits a thirteen-year-old boy, a closely guarded priest's diary, and an investigation that took most of the story apart.
Salem · 1692The Farmer Who Was Pressed To Death For SilenceAn elderly farmer refused to enter a plea and was crushed under stones over two days rather than let his tormentors win.- Nantes · 1440The Knight Who Became BluebeardA war hero who rode beside Joan of Arc went home to his castles and became something monstrous.
- Bedburg · 1589The Werewolf Trial Of Peter StumppA wealthy farmer confessed to becoming a wolf and killing his neighbours, and his execution became medieval theatre.
Bamberg · 1628The Mayor's Smuggled Letter From The Witch HouseA respected mayor was tortured into confessing witchcraft, then smuggled out a secret letter revealing every word was a lie.
Edinburgh · 1591The Wise Wife Burned For A King's FearA beloved village healer was accused of witchcraft to satisfy a paranoid young king, and lit a fire that consumed scores more.
Munich · 1600The Beggar Family Tortured Into A Public WarningA duke needed someone to blame for unsolved crimes, so he picked a family of gravediggers and tortured them into confessing everything.
Copenhagen · 1590The Storm That Started A King's War On WitchesA minister blamed a shipwrecking storm on witchcraft to save himself, and the accusation crossed the sea to obsess a king.
Leonberg · 1615The Astronomer Who Raced Home To Save A WitchWhile her son mapped the orbits of planets, a sharp-tongued old herbalist sat in a cell accused of witchcraft.
Glarus · 1782The Last Woman Executed As A Witch In EuropeA poor maid accused of poisoning a child with needles is really being punished for an affair with a powerful man.
Lancaster · 1612The Girl Who Condemned Her Own FamilyA nine-year-old is placed on a table in a Lancashire courtroom, and her testimony sends her own mother toward the gallows.
Mistley · 1645The Self-Appointed Witchfinder GeneralA 25-year-old with no official authority talked terrified communities into executing more witches than the previous century combined.
Salem, Massachusetts · 1692The First to Hang at SalemConvicted on nothing but a dream of her spectre, she was the first person executed in the Salem witch trials.
Salem, Massachusetts · 1692The Killing Ground of SalemA colonial village turned mass hysteria into mass execution, hanging dozens on a single barren ridge.- St Paul's Cathedral, London · 1441The Duchess Who Turned to WitchcraftDesperate for her husband to be king, a duchess conspired with witches to melt a wax effigy of a young king.
- Chelmsford · 1566The First Woman Executed For Witchcraft In EnglandVillagers said her cat spoke in a human voice and drank blood in exchange for killing her enemies.
- Salem · 1692The Enslaved Woman Who Started the Salem Witch TrialsHer confession to save herself named two other women as witches, setting off accusations that would kill twenty people.
- Walkern · 1712The Last Woman Sentenced to Die for Witchcraft in EnglandReprieved from the gallows, she spent the rest of her life hiding from a community that never accepted her acquittal.
- York · 1809The Poisoner Whose Skin Was Sold as CharmsAfter she was hanged for poisoning a client, her skin was tanned into good-luck charms and sold to the public.